Green Woodpecker Portraits

Above and below are a few more Green Woodpecker portraits captured today.

These birds are very alert and watchful before they move into open terrain to feed and they are often away as soon as they sense anything out of the ordinary such as the sound of  a hidden camera shutter activation.

 So images of Green woodpeckers heading back to field boundary post and often swiftly departing to 'greener pastures'  seemed to become the order of the day.

 

This departing Green Woodpecker image is a composite of three consecutive registered images that have been merged into one frame using photoshop post production.

  

Green Woodpecker feeding fledgling

I revisited St Erth river valley with Martin Yelland again this morning,  Last time we had some success with Greater Spotted Woodpeckers with chicks in the nest and today was to be the time for Green Woodpeckers feeding their fledgling in the treetops.

The  'Greens'  could be seen and heard all around but it was a four hour wait before I got this opportunity to capture the adult feeding the Fledgling.

The adult flew into a tree near to the hedgerow where I was ' hunkered in ' and the real bonus came as the fledgling followed on behind and it was immediately begging to be fed.

My thanks once again to Martin Yellend for giving me the nod relating to the Woodpeckers and to Bill & Jenny for allowing me access to photogragh them !

Woodpecker Chick Portraits

 I have spent considerable time at this nest location where the chicks now spend most of their time squabbling over the prime feeding position in the entrance to the narrow nest hole.

I still don't know how many chicks there are or which one is showing in any particular shot.

Light levels are poor and there is never any direct sunlight to the nests downward facing hole and I am looking forward to capturing the moment when they all fledge !

Grub Up !

The woodpecker chicks were still packing in the grubs and insects today with constant little battles between them for prime time in the narrow entrance to the nest.

The adult birds seem to have endless energy and enthusiasm for their role as providers and are keeping up their non-stop pace from dawn to dusk.

Nesting Woodpecker

The male woodpecker above has been carrying out early AM nest cleaning duties and exits the nest hole to dump it.

As he exits the female arrives with fresh food for her chicks and the first youngster that hears her scrabbles into the hole hungry for her offerings

As the female departs the male is already back with more food for the next chick that shows which looks likely to be the more mature of the brood.

He or she is learning fast and waits at the hole for ' seconds ' as it sees the female return with another beck full of food

The convoy of food keeps coming throughout the day,  The chicks are already developing their bright red cap plumage and will soon be tempted out from their restricted dark nest environment

First glimpse of the Woodpecker chicks

This afternoon we were treated to our first glimpse of the woodpecker chicks as its face filled the hole to their nest chamber.  The eyes of both woodpecker and chick are set closed to reduce the danger of damage from powerful beaks.

No this isn't another chick but the male emerging from the nest with a beak full of muck which the returning female just manages to side step.

The male emerges from the tight nest entrance and flies off to dump the much and return to food collecting

The female deposits her supply of crushed nuts and fat ball into a hungry mouth and is off again on another round trip.

As the male returns again we get just one more glimpse of another chicks head and can look forward to several of them fledging before to long now !

Early AM woodpecker

It is early AM as the sunrise bursts through the morning mist that is filtering through St Erth's river valley trees.

This industrious pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker are already out and about and bringing food back to their nest full of lively chicks

And the reason for this early AM visit is because it happens to be the only hour when direct sunlight reaches right to the edge of the nest hole. At all other hours of sunlight the hole is in underside trunk shadows which is why the clever birds selected it in the first place.

The image above demonstrates just how easily the woodpeckers powerful talons are capable of working with a downwards facing nest entrance

Woodpecker use their stiff tail for alignment and support when working in vertical and diagonal conditions.

The final shot shows the male Woodpecker approaching the nest with a mouthful of natural insect life making sure that the chicks are on a good varied diet